Patterson Park No Kings Rally: Taking Back the America We Used to Know

BALTIMORE – As he moved through the big, peaceful gathering Saturday afternoon at one of this nation’s many “No Kings” rallies vilifying President Donald Trump, the guy handing out free American flags stumbled to find a place to maneuver, so crowded was this rolling Patterson Park hillside.

“You want a free flag?” he asked Joe Compton, who had a spot in the grass.

“Should I fly it upside down?” Compton asked.

“No,” the guy with the flags said. “This is a time to fight back, not surrender.”

“I’m not surrendering,” Compton said, “but I thought you flew the flag upside down to signal distress.”

The guy with the flags kept on walking, and Compton sat on the grass and shook his wooly grey head. He’s retired now, but previously he was executive director of Maryland’s Board of Directors of Psychology.

“I am in shock,” he said, “that Donald Trump has convinced even one person in the United States that he is a cogent human being.”

That’s the president he’s talking about, and it’s hard to imagine anyone in the big Patterson Park crowd disagreeing with him. Nor the millions gathered in thousands of locations all over America Saturday, June 14, to express their anger over the course of events since Trump commenced his second White House term five months ago.

In the same week in which a U.S. senator, Alex Padilla, was shoved around inside a federal building, and two Minnesota state legislators were shot and one killed in Minnesota, and wars raged in the Middle East and Ukraine, the atmosphere here was calm but clearly outraged.

They were there to condemn Trump’s roundup of immigrants, his threats to cut essential government services to the poor and the elderly, his employment of military to muscle peaceful demonstrators, his disdain for the U.S. Constitution, his bullying of the helpless, and much of it with barely concealed racial overtones.

“They pick on the people who are most helpless,” U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen told the Patterson Park crowd. “That’s what bullies do…They want people to be scared and silent.” He called Trump a “lawless president.”

Around the big crowd Saturday, there were hundreds of hand-made signs expressing contempt for this president.

“Immigrants are Not the Problem. Hate Is,” said one.

“If There’s Enough for a Parade, There’s Enough for Medicare,” said another, referring to the hugely expensive parade billed as a tribute to the U.S. Army’s 250^th birthday, coincidentally held on Trump’s 79^th birthday.

And one sign addressed to all those who voted for Trump: “You don’t get to talk about who is ‘illegal’ when you voted for a felon.”

“If America Hasn’t Broken Your Heart, Then You Don’t Love Her Enough,” said another.

And, “Stop Stealing Our Neighbors.”

City Councilman Mark Parker, who represents the east side of Baltimore, echoed that sign. He told the crowd, “We’re here to tell our immigrant neighbors, ‘We love you.’”

Before he went back on the road to address another Maryland rally, Sen. Van Hollen said, “I came here from (Montgomery County). There were thousands of people demonstrating on Rockville Pike.”

The big crowd roared when they heard that. This was Van Hollen telling them, “You’re not alone.” That’s important to remember when this president so often seems like the only voice in the room.

Donald Trump has the bully pulpit, and he bends the truth so blatantly, and so routinely, that he wraps himself in false triumph. It’s easy for those who oppose him to feel overmatched and isolated.

But not if they went to Patterson Park Saturday, and not if they showed up at any of a reported 2,000 rallies all over America. They were there to express their anger with Trump. And, as they looked around, they had to tell themselves: I’m not alone. There are others like me who want to take back the America we used to know.

Michael Olesker

Michael Olesker, columnist for the News American, Baltimore Sun, and Baltimore Examiner has spent a quarter of a century writing about the city he loves.He is the author of several books, including Michael Olesker’s Baltimore: If You Live Here, You’re Home, Journeys to the Heart of Baltimore, and The Colts’ Baltimore: A City and Its Love Affair in the 1950s, all published by Johns Hopkins Press.